Yami Bakura: You are so weird...
WSJ: ^^V
Disclaimer: Own none. Ankhkare and Senui belong to Indigo Tantarian.
Note: I did go back and edit all the chapters, replacing Bel um Fal with Atemu, but I just realized that if I wanted to post them I'd have to do this long and involved process to preserve my symbols. It's enough pain in the butt having to do it with every new chapter, so I'm not going to bother. All future chapters will have Yami's correct name of Atemu, so please ignore the previous wrong one.
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Hot Sands Warm Arms
Chapter 11 - Fast Forward
"Pixi Stix gooooood..."
~(my friend Kat and I. Need I say more?)
Things came and went, and for the spirits that lived in the underground caves it was all just a blur. Mostly.
Shaadi and Pegasus continued working underground, copying carvings and photographing, while everyone else usually stayed in the massive city that was slowly being uncovered above ground. Sometimes Malik would hang around down in the caves too, and the spirits soon realized that he could see them, even when they'd made themselves invisible to human eyes. He never said anything, but when Senui or the pharaoh hung around to watch Pegasus work, Malik would keep darting glances toward them, as if making sure they weren't any threat. Once, Senui just scowled and made a rude gesture, but Malik only grinned and returned it.
October passed with the celebrating of Pegasus's twenty-fifth birthday, as well as the celebration of New Ankhara becoming a licensed town. Most of the buildings were workers' homes, made of mud brick and clay. Near the well, however, they began work on a two-story limestone building that would act as town hall and meeting place, like a much more permanent pavilion.
The year turned with Malik's seventh birthday, as well as something much more sinister. The spirits could only watch, helpless, as a man robed and masked in black crept into the underground labyrinth by night, and made his way straight to the chamber where the sacred Sennen Items were kept. He stole only one; the Sennen Eye.
Now two spots on the great slab stood empty, the Rod and Eye both stolen.
The archaeologists had not yet reached the Item chamber, so they did not know of its theft until much, much too late...
The next year was spent in happy, archaeological bliss. Museums were scrambling to purchase or lease Ankhara artifacts. Angeline and Isis were already working on organizing everything they were learning about this unknown Pharaoh Atemu into a book. All of them had already published an article or two in various archaeology magazines around the globe.
Of course, with the fame came another price. Tourists were now beginning to flock to the site, creating havoc and mayhem that no scholar could hope to work in. Rashiid just sighed and hired guards at night, and crowd-chasers during the day. After Pegasus publicly threatened to close down the site, the Egyptian government stepped in to help with tourist control as well.
They celebrated the one year anniversary of the beginning of their excavation with a small party thrown in the new limestone building, which had been dubbed Atemu House. During the summer, excavation slowed as heat kept them from keeping the full hours that they could in the winter.
Ryou was growing at an amazing rate, his hair still as white as ever, but his skin tanned as brown as any little Egyptian. He could already walk by his first birthday, and by that Christmas he was running around behind his big brother Malik and being blamed (by Malik) for all sorts of mischief.
It was at the Christmas party in Atemu House that Pegasus and Cynthia, giving each other long, sickeningly loving looks, announced the best news anyone had heard of in a long time. The revelation that Cynthia was pregnant was met with cheers all around. Pegasus announced that he was launching an Ankhara exhibit at the New York Institute of Ancient Art, barely twenty miles from his and Cynthia's manor. The Crawfords planned to return to America and host the exhibit for the rest of Cynthia's pregnancy, but that they would return with the baby after it was safely born.
Everyone, especially Angeline and Isis, were sad to see Pegasus and Cynthia go, but Pegasus was being fiercely protective of his young wife and unborn child, and swore that they would only have the best doctors New York, or all of America, had to offer. They left just after New Years, with fond farewells and promises to write.
Excavation carried on as normal, even without the Crawfords there. Several of Kaela's friends from art school were employed at the dig as well, cataloguing and labeling all the artifacts. Kaela and Isis and Angeline would take turns watching Malik and Ryou, though more often than not the two little boys would be running around all over the country side.
It was in April, as Cynthia was nearing her seven month mark, that Angeline discovered that she was pregnant again. Isis quickly confined her back to baby sitting and restoration projects only, and Angeline accepted the restrictions with a sigh.
In early June, a letter arrived from New York.
"Minna!" Angeline called excitedly, standing in the doorway of Atemu house and waving something over her head. Shen and Shaadi, the only ones who were nearby, laid their work aside and came inside, where Kaela and Isis were already waiting. "It's a letter from Pegga!" Angeline said excitedly. " 'Dear Shen, Angeline, Isis, and all,' " she read outloud, imitating Pegasus's quiet American accent.
It seems like we've been away forever, and Cynnie and I are both looking forward to returning to Egypt within the month. It's nice to be back in America, but over the last year Egypt has grown into home for us. Our parents were aghast, seeing us so tan. You'd have thought we'd strayed back from a fairy ring, the way they stared at us.
The exhibition is going very well, and there is talk of sending a portion of it on tour. The Three Gods stele and the Destiny stele are both being shipped to Tokyo, where they will take up permanent residence in the Domino Museum, as we agreed. Atemu's throne and that charming collection of hand-carved board games we found are staying on permanent exhibit in New York, along with pottery and several other less important pieces.
But on to happier news. I am very proud to announce that near eleven p.m. on May the 21st, Cynthia went into labor. At around 7 a.m. on May 22, she gave birth to twin girls (I kid you not!). The older one is a blond, and her name is Charlotte Marie Crawford. The younger one is silver-haired, and her name is Melissa Anne Crawford. I am very proud to name Shen and Angeline as their godparents. Cynthia is just about bursting in joy, and can't wait to show our daughters off. For that matter, neither can I. Expect us near the end of June. We love you all and can't wait to see you again.
~Pegasus James Crawford
Shen was grinning ear to ear, as was Shaadi. "Twins, wow!" Shen whistled. "I guess it is a good thing they were in America for the birth, then. If something had gone wrong while they were here, twin pregnancies are awful complicated."
Angeline grinned at him. "You talk as if from experience."
Shen flushed as Shaadi snickered. "Ugh... I hope not. No offense Angel, but I think I prefer dealing with one child at a time."
Angeline giggled and rubbed her slightly rounded belly. "Me too,"
The spirits, Ankhkare especially, were thrilled over the news of the new children that would soon be joining them. Well, the pharaoh and Ankhare were thrilled. Bekhura was rather indifferent, and Senui just scowled. But then again, Senui scowled at everything.
As promised, the Crawford family returned to Egypt during the last week of June. The babies were cooed over and cuddled, and Cynthia shrieked and giggled over Angeline's pregnancy. The upstairs of Atemu House was bedrooms, and Pegasus and Cynthia moved into one of them, so that little Carly and Missy (as they were called) wouldn't have to sleep in a tent. Angeline, Shen, and Ryou moved into another of the bedrooms, Isis into a fourth, and Rashiid and Malik into the last one. More were being added at the back of Atemu House, so that eventually all the archaeologists would have rooms, but for now there was only enough room for the three families. The lower floor of Atemu House were the public rooms, the upper floor were the private.
The summer passed in squelching heat, and for awhile everyone was worried because Pegasus, Ryou, and little Missy all came down with horrible fevers in the middle of July. Missy recovered fairly quickly, much to everyone's relief, but Cynthia and the twins had to temporarily move into Isis's room so they could keep Pegasus and Ryou quarantined. Both of them were bed-ridden for nearly three weeks, struggling first under the burning fever, and then to recover from it.
Angeline nearly worried herself sick over her little boy, and Isis was constantly reminding her to calm down and think of the baby she was carrying. Isis was deathly afraid that the shock and stress of Ryou being so sick would send Angeline into another early labor.
But eventually the sickness passed, the only ill effect seeming to be that Ryou couldn't hear quite as well out of his left ear anymore. This only developed into an adorable habit of cocking his head when anyone spoke to him, and Pegasus liked to tease him about doing it only to gain attention.
Ryou turned two barely a week after he'd recovered from the fever, and a party was thrown to celebrate, with real cake. Malik had missed his 'little brother', especially since a lot of the time he hadn't even been able to go see Ryou for fear that he might catch the fever too.
A month later, on October 22, Angeline gave birth to a healthy little girl, and she and Shen named her Amane Amelia Bakura. Isis and Shaadi were named her godparents, which made the two Egyptians blush. They still had not made their feelings for each other public, although all their close friends could see how they felt about each other.
Winter turned to spring, and Carly and Missy turned one. The year passed on... Ryou turned three, Amane turned one, Malik turned nine. It is after this New Years, in the spring of the fifth year of excavation, that our story will slow again, and I will pick up a more detailed account. This is the year when everything began to come together, when things began to mount up. Light and light, dark and dark.
And it all begins, all of it, with a snake.
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WSJ: ^^ And there you go!! :p Hey, I warned you. Next chapter picks up a detailed story again, but it may be awhile, cuz I've got research to do. :p Until then, ja!
God bless minna-san!